Author Archives: Jenny Ruth Yasi

About Jenny Ruth Yasi

author, sailor, animal trainer,rally, agility and freestyle competitor, owner/proprietor Whole Dog Camp, now located in Freeport, Maine. For 31 years we lived on Peaks Island Maine. Now we are sailing with our 2 dogs in the Bahamas, and will return to Maine in 2017

10 Rules of engagement for your kids’ grandparents

Posted on December 22, 2021 by Jenny Ruth Yasi

Life gets complicated when your children have children! Here are a few simple tricks, from the perspective of a grandparent, that might smooth the bumpy places for lots of families. Don’t play favorites. Just as it is unhealthy for parents … Continue reading →

Tagged | Leave a comment

Is a vaccination rant worth it?

Posted on August 16, 2021 by Jenny Ruth Yasi

We stopped Ebola and Plague and Rabies and polio and meningitis and other diseases with vaccines. We know how to stop this pandemic. We just need everyone to row together, and we’ll get it done Continue reading →

Leave a comment

The Freeport Big Indian

Posted on May 22, 2021 by Jenny Ruth Yasi

I loved it, an easy landmark, turn right at the Big Indian. To me, a White woman, it was a familiar, welcome sight, a reminder of the native people of this land! Of course, I also knew it was commercial, … Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Alpha, omega, or neither?

Posted on March 5, 2017 by Jenny Ruth Yasi

I was going to try to trick you and ask you to guess which dog is the “alpha” dog. Tigerlily is 12, a curly barbet, and Bee is a 7 year old mixed breed. Both are spayed females. And the … Continue reading →

2 Comments

Tether training by Jenny Ruth Yasi

Posted on February 20, 2017 by Jenny Ruth Yasi

Teaching your dog to relax on leash, play nicely with other dogs,  settle in one place, relax around distractions, begins with tether training. These simple training principles apply not only to tether training, but also to training any cue. Start … Continue reading →

Posted in Behavior Science, and Signal Training | Leave a comment

I’ll (try to) be there for you

Posted on February 1, 2017 by Jenny Ruth Yasi

The weather was not perfectly still. A big Northwest gale had  passed, still the ocean surface scalloped energetically. The tide was going out. Albert found an island, Gumelemi Cay, that looked like it could have great snorkeling.  We inched off … Continue reading →

1 Comment

For What It’s Worth

Posted on January 30, 2017 by Jenny Ruth Yasi

Now that Albert is retired he’s able to join me at these little school gigs  with the dogs. Last week I did a short unit on “incremental problem solving” with the help of Albert and Tigerlily, and ever since we’ve … Continue reading →

1 Comment

A poop talk

Posted on January 12, 2017 by Jenny Ruth Yasi

People don’t always like to talk about poop. But it’s not a great idea to overlook it, either. Continue reading →

Posted in Adventure, Behavior Science, and Signal Training, marriage | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Bite Me!

Posted on January 8, 2017 by Jenny Ruth Yasi

In another post I wrote about my fears of Zika, dengue and chikungunya, and how I planned to protect myself from mosquitos. But  we have seen exactly one mosquito since we arrived in the Bahamas and we killed it! (You’re … Continue reading →

Posted in Adventure | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Vixen and Vino

Posted on January 3, 2017 by Jenny Ruth Yasi

“So what sort of accent is that?” For the record, I don’t have an accent, you have an accent. But people have asked about my accent all my life. When I was little I explained it saying, “My Italian Grandfather … Continue reading →

Posted in Adventure | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment